Department of Homeland Security - Essay Example

July The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently celebrated its 10th anniversary of existence. The creation of DHS combined 22 former agencies with over 180,000 people into the largest restructuring in the government since President Truman formed the Department of Defense (DoD) in 1947. In many ways, DHS is the most visible USG response to the terrorist threat. Rumors persist that many government officials continue to consider taking a critical, second look at the organizational composition of DHS. Does the DHS organization need a significant "redo." One of the goals for creating DHS was to improve the overall security/safety of the US critical infrastructure. The almost successful Christmas "underwear" bomber a few years ago highlighted the continuing problems in the system. The major food contamination in Germany recently highlighted problems that could easily occur in the US. Obviously, there are still challenges to achieve the Department’s vision of safety and security. What are the three most significant weaknesses with DHS that you have discovered so far this semester through the course material and discussions? Give three specific examples to support your opinion. (Hint: Dont just list the three examples. Explain why you picked each and provide some sources to validate your choices.) What would you recommend to resolve these shortfalls? The DHS uses the outdated security controls and the Internet connections that are unverified and untrustworthy (Hicks). This finding has been reported by the Inspector General’s latest report in 2013 (Hicks). In other words, the DHS itself is violating the mandate it has received from the government in which it is authorized to use possible and reliable resources and methods for carrying out the process of security surveillance. If it continues to use such non-verified methods, it will not be able to perform its critical role and without appropriately satisfying its role, it will instead of decreasing the cyber security threat it will experience rise in the security threats. The reason for choosing this weakness is that the cyber security is become more serious and grave threat than the scourge of extremism and terrorism. It s devastating impact is so severe that within a span of few minutes it can disrupt the functioning of critical infrastructure which could bring serious financial and infrastructural loss to the United States of America. Using verified and trustworthy security controls and the Internet connections offers the best solution for the weakness. Before going to implement any new security protocol, it must always be ensured that it is trustworthy and authentic and has been appropriately approved by the relevant department within the DHS. In addition, if any problem occurs while operating the security controls, it must be timely reported to the concerned authority and any subsequent changes must also be duly informed to the related authorities. Through this security mechanism, the major weakness will not persist and more authentic and reliable security control pertaining to the cyber security will be enforced and they will generate the expected response. The DHS continues to face criticism on using weaker internal control system and consequently it has been unable to receive clean opinion on its financial statements (Rabkin 7). In other words, the financial accounts of the DHS have not been complying with the appropriate financial regulation and ambiguity persists throughout this period. Additionally, this inappropriate conduct clearly reflects a grave weakness for handling the financial accounts. And its ramifications clearly demonstrate the relevant authority within the ambit of the DHS is less interested to address this weakness and carry out the relevant security controls to mitigate the effects of this weakness. The reason for selecting is provided by the importance of financial resources and their requirements for carrying out security services to the nation. If the provided funds are not appropriately used on the recommended aspects within the sub-departments, it would create grave implications for the DHS’s commitment to providing cyber security and other security services and it would also make difficult for the DHS to sustain the effects of financial irregularities. Compliance with the related financial rules and regulations will enable the DHS to receive unqualified opinion from the auditors. For complying, it is highly essential that the DHS must not undermine the significance of such compliance and make sure that all departments heads understand it and show their full compliance and support for the financial regulation of the DHS. In the visa waiver program, the DHS admits the internal weaknesses in the departure data (Ford 4). This is the most serious weakness in the security system of the DHS. If the departure data and other relevant requirements inside the visa waiver program are not appropriately enforced, such actions are tantamount to the serious breach of security protocols and that could bring a serious security challenges for the country. In this regard, it is important to highlight that if an international terrorist organization use this weakness for carrying out their terrorist attacks inside the United States, in that case, it would be very difficult for the DHS to avoid criticism from the government for failing to restrict the terrorist’s entry into the country. The national security is of paramount importance for the country. If it is breached by any serious weakness in the DHS security mechanism, it would enable the common citizen to ask questions about the effectiveness of the DHS for providing security to the country as they receive billions of dollars for providing security services to the nation and the nation has full right to ask for the appropriate use of their taxes. The best way to remove this weakness is to track the entry of almost all individuals who are coming to the United States. For this purpose, effective monitoring of all visitors will be highly essential and this surveillance should be continuing throughout the stay period of the foreigners. In this regard, it is important to mention that the surveillance should be separated into two parts: extreme and moderate. In the extreme surveillance, highly suspected individuals from the sensitive countries must be monitored and the moderate surveillance should be carried out for the individuals coming from moderate countries. 2. The National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP), drafted by DHS, is the governments road map on how to protect our critical infrastructure and key resources. Will the completed Sector Specific Plans (SSP) make America safer? As an example, review the Executive Summary of the SSP for the Water Plan. If you were a small water authority in the mid-West and reviewed the SSP, how would it help you to manage and protect your water system? Are these just paper studies that dont impact you as the source of the local water supply? If you were called to Washington from your processing facility in Iowa to testify before Congress on these plans, what would you highlight as the major shortfall of the plan? What two significant improvements to the plans would you request? Please focus on the plan (processes, regulations, private/public interaction, outreach, mandates, etc.) rather than your need to build better fences around your water supply. Be specific in your answer and provide supporting information to support your choices. Remember that you are speaking for all the small water authorities across the US. You might even consider some of the inequalities in regulations and guidance for small vs large water systems. Consider speaking for your customers! Fundamentally, this framework is useful not only for large water systems but also for the small ones as well. This national risk management framework highlights a systemic way to address security threats and ways to improve security of critical infrastructure. Figure 1: National Risk Management Framework Source: (Homeland Security and Environmental Protection Agency 2). At the policy level, these security measures look good but sometimes ground realities and ground requirements are different and situational as well. For example, the framework does not detail methods to address the problems particularly after a terrorist attack in which the terrorists use dangerous material for contaminating water. Under this situation, what type of information should be passed on to the water users and what precautions should be taken by the water users and the authorities have not been explicitly elaborated by the framework. From a customer point of view, the provided framework offers nothing even it fails taking into account the consequences and ramifications for the consumers in the event of any such attack. In this regard, it is highly recommended that each small facility and its regulators must have their own water safety and security policy detailing the coordination and responsibilities of each stakeholder. By having their own safety and security policy, they will be in a better position to address threats in any form. However, in this regard, it is important to mention that the safety and security policy must have strategic guideline framework which should be achieved through sub-part of such policy. For example, if a threat of chemical contamination looks plausible, the necessary subsequent steps and measures should be included in the sub-part of policy dealing with the issue of chemical contamination. In this sub-policy part, it should also be included that how purification of contaminated water will be carried out and how the damage will be minimized through taking precautionary measures. 3. The US has made a major investment in protecting the aviation component of the transportation critical infrastructure. Some critiques of the Federal government would contend that this has been at the expense of the other parts of the sector. Concerns continue to arise with respect to trains, busses, and other metro transports. One only has to look to the London bombings of the underground or the Madrid train incidents several years ago to justify reallocation of emphasis in the US. Has the Federal government placed too much emphasis on aviation (TSA, FAA, etc.) at the expense of the other components? What additional priorities would you suggest to DHS or the White House to improve the security and safety of the transportation CI? The 9/11 attacks devastated the US economy and its critical infrastructure (Jackson 153; Burke and Cooper XXX). The events of 9/11 clearly justify the provided security apparatus to the aviation industry. The magnitude of devastation and loss of the 9/11 events is so immense that the current security level for the airports and other critical infrastructure are highly reasonable. However, it does not mean that the terrorists would not attack if they found a high level security for the airports and the aviation industry. As a result, the safety and security of all components of transportation critical infrastructure are of equal importance and consequently they should also receive the reasonable level of safety and security measures from the government. Numerous recommendations can be provided to the DHS for improving the security of trains, busses and metro transports. First, keeping in view the terrorist attacks on Madrid and London, it is highly recommended that the DHS must beef up the security of the trains, busses and metro transports. And for each transportation system, different security controls and surveillance program should be developed and enforced as well. for example, for trains, physical security should be provided to the sensitive sub-ways and other stations of the trains where security personnel should be stationed at the same time installation of security cameras at all entry and exist points must be ensured as well. Moreover, the same security apparatus can also be used for providing security to the metros. And as far as the security of busses is concerned, it is highly important to assess the type of security threats to the busses and that the findings of that assessment should be used for developing a security plan for the busses. 4. Assume you are the mayor of a small town in Kansas. In the last few days, rumors have circulated through your town that terrorists have been living in the area for many months and have been seen tampering with locks and fences around the local water system. This includes the wells, storage ponds, pumping stations, and above ground pipes feeding the local baby food processing plants. One report even indicates suspicious activity around the wastewater processing facility. The citizens are demanding action. Given these unverified rumors, what do you do today? What types of terrorist activities should your Department of Water & Sanitation check for? What is your long-term strategy to protect your community? What help would you expect from the various Federal agencies? Does DHS provide "one stop shopping" for your solution? Security of critical infrastructure is highly important (Wilshusen 10; Lewis 77). Before going to take some actions against the terrorists, it is important to verify their existence and their true motives; this will be the first step. If it is established that they pose serious threat to the sensitive infrastructure, particularly storage ponds and pumping stations, an appropriate action would be taken against them. Before taking action against the terrorists, first action would be that all the relevant security authorities will be called on to develop a coordinated action against the terrorists in which the timeframe and operation mechanism will be discussed. However, before going to launch massive operation, the next action would to collect some basic information about the number of terrorists, type of weapons and their capability. By knowing this basic information, it would be considerably helpful to apprehend them without making any collateral damage to the local community. Subsequently, the federal intelligence agencies and the DHS will also be involved in this security operation and their coordination will be highly required as this will increase the success chances besides decreasing any damage to the sensitive installations and community members. In the last action, all forces will be asked to position critical locations in which snipers will be stationed at the higher buildings and the ground forces will launch the operation against the terrorists. The long term actions include the town administration will construct its own town security policy in which community vigilance teams will be constituted and they will be mandated perform safety and surveillance operation throughout the determined areas. In addition, they will remain in active coordination with the local police and with the federal agencies as well. Works Cited Burke, Ronald J., Cooper, Cary L. (Eds.). International Terrorism and Threats to Security: Managerial and Organizational Challenges. Glasgow: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008. Print. Ford, Jess T. Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate. GAO-08-458T, Diane Publishing, 2008. Print Homeland Security, Environmental Protection Agency. “Water: Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources Sector-Specific Plan as input to the National Infrastructure Protection Plan.” Homeland Security and Environmental Protection Agency. May 2007:1-8. Print. Hicks, Josh. “Report shows weaknesses in DHS cybersecurity.” The Washington Post. 2 December, 2013: all. Print. Jackson, Gary M. Predicting Malicious Behavior: Tools and Techniques for Ensuring Global Security. Indiana: Wiley, 2012. Print. Lewis, Ted G. Critical Infrastructure Protection in Homeland Security: Defending a Networked Nation. New Jersey: Wiley, 2006. Print. Rabkin, Norman J. Department of Homeland Security: Progress Made in Implementation of Management Functions, But More Work Remains: Congressional Testimony. GAO-08-646T, Diane Publishing. 2008. Print. Wilshusen, Gregory C. Information Security: TVA Needs to Enhance Security of Critical Infrastructure Control Systems and Networks. GAO-08-775tT: Diane Publishing, 2008. Print. Read More